Unique Contest Determines How Bricklayers Stack Up Against Competition

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — Builders from all over the region gathered in Delaware County Thursday for a competition to see who could lay the most bricks.

For 45 fast and furious minutes, seven of the best brick layers from across the region went head-to-head in the annual Bricklayer 500 at Fizzano Brothers Concrete Products in Crum Lynne.

“It’s the fastest trail competition,” said John Paci with Spec Mix, the company sponsoring the contest. “We try to build a wall in a certain amount of time to certain specifications, just like you would on a job site.”

Paci says during this turbo-charged competition the competitors used six tons of concrete to stack more than 3,500 bricks in an effort to build the most sellable wall.

“The rules are it has to be built to specifications or you get deductions on your wall,” Paci said.

And that means for many of these guys, the need for speed had to take a backseat to skill and precision — but that does not mean the participants held anything else back.

“It’s great. I’ve been looking forward to this for six months,” said competitor Bill Bachetti. “Bragging rights, that’s what all of this is for. Yeah, the money is nice, but bragging rights for the next year is what I’m looking forward to.”

But after laying nearly 500 bricks, it was Joe Masters who won the competition. His prize: $1,000 cash, a trip to Las Vegas to compete in the national competition and the right to say he’s the best brick layer in the Delaware Valley.

“It feels good, it was all worth it,” Masters said. “All the hard work paid off.”

When Masters takes his brick laying skills to nationals in Vegas in January, he’ll face 24 of the top bricklayers from across the country for a chance to win a 2018 Ford F-150.